Friday, 9 August - This is the greatest show

🙋🏻‍♀️ Scroll on for The Paris Sprint, our short ‘n sweet Olympics update…

Good morning, it’s Friday, 9 August. In your Squiz Today…

• Celebrating our best-ever Olympics and previewing the Closing Ceremony

• Alan Joyce’s post-Qantas pay wings are clipped

• And a cheesy quesadilla wins a gold medal in our belly…

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Squiz the Weather

Squiz Sayings

The infamous words of Jack Karlson, spoken during his arrest outside a Brisbane restaurant back in 1991 when he was accused of credit card fraud. The 82yo “colourful character” died on Wednesday after a battle with prostate cancer, but the memes will live forever…

Au revoir Paris

The Squiz

After 2 weeks of early morning/late night action, the Paris Olympic Games are getting to the pointy end, culminating in what’s being billed as a “majestic” Closing Ceremony titled ‘Records’ that kicks off at 5am on Monday morning our time. Paris 2024 has been our most successful Olympics ever, and this morning we are still sitting third on the medal tally. And it’s been an especially good time for our women who’ve won 13 of the 18 Gold medals so far. 

Australia’s done pretty well, right? 

We sure have. And as we head towards Brisbane 2032, these Paris Olympics look set to have a lasting impact on our next generation of sports stars. But before we look that far forward there are more medal opportunities for Australia over the coming 3 days… Jess Hull has the 1,500m final on Sunday morning. There’s also the Opals semi-final match against the USA tomorrow night - a win would see our women’s basketballers through to Sunday’s medal match and possibly back on the podium for the first time since London 2012. And the Stingers - our women’s water polo team - are through to the gold medal game against Spain tomorrow night. Assume the position on the sofa and prep for some late nights/early mornings… 

What will the Closing Ceremony look like?

It’s all a bit hush-hush, but artistic director Thomas Jolly is back at the helm, and this time it’ll be at the Stade de France that seats 80,000 people. Organisers say the change in approach from the Opening Ceremony will “ensure that everyone can enjoy the party right up to the last second”. There will be acrobats, dancers and circus artists along with some celeb cameos... Reports say Tom Cruise will descend from the top of the stadium before switching to a pre-recorded stunt skydiving past the Hollywood sign to fly the Olympic flag from Paris to the next host city Los Angeles. We’ll also see the usual athletes’ parade and the extinguishing of the Olympic flame. French bands Phoenix and Air are expected to play, and there are even rumours that Taylor Swift - who’s in Europe for her Eras tour - might perform. Until then, c’mon Aussie… 

Your fresh market update…

We’re all about giving you the useful stuff so we’ve teamed up with Woolies to share their top weekly fruit and veg picks. Here’s what to grab this week:

🍓Strawberries: Winter = peak strawberry season. Grab the bright red ones with the vibrant green stems.

🍊Afourer Mandarins: Sweet and juicy, thanks to the good growing conditions in Queensland. Bonus: their bumpy skin makes them super easy to peel.

🥔 Washed White Potatoes: The winter veggie staple. Look for white, mark-free spuds for the perfect mash, roast, or bake.

Squiz the Rest

Police take Swift action

Austrian police say the 19yo arrested for planning an attack at Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour concert in Vienna had previously pledged allegiance to the Islamic State terror group. Specifically, he "intended to carry out an attack using explosives and knives" to kill a large number of people and himself. The man they have detained is the main suspect - 3 others are still being tracked down. Swift was due to perform for at least 150,000 people this week but organisers said they had “no choice but to cancel” the 3 sold-out shows “for everyone’s safety”, and offered full refunds. Swift hasn’t made a statement herself, but the cancellation is notable because aside from COVID shutting down her 2020 tour, she’s only cancelled 1 show before. This all might bring to mind the 2017 Ariana Grande concert bombing in Manchester - Swift has said that’s her “biggest fear”.

Battle of the (potential) Veeps 

He’s only been in the job for a couple of days, but Democratic would-be VP Tim Walz is coining it in for the campaign alongside current VP Kamala Harris by raising over $55 million in the first 24 hours since his candidacy was announced. That comes on top of the $473 million the Democrats have raised in July. Yesterday Harris/Walz continued their campaign rally tour, which saw them end up in what was dubbed “duelling” swing state events as Republican VP pick JD Vance also held rallies in Wisconsin and Michigan on the same days - with their planes passing on the tarmac... Notably absent was former/hopeful President Donald Trump. Instead, he’s been appearing on his preferred Fox News network, where he gave indications that a televised debate with Harris could be back on the cards as he reckons “every network loves me very much right now”.

Keen to know more about JD Vance? Then check out the latest Squiz Shortcut…

Joyce’s pay packet is grounded

Former Qantas CEO Alan Joyce was in line for $23.6 million as his parting payout, but yesterday the airline said that the golden handshake will be cut by $9.26 million. Several controversies in recent times on Joyce’s watch resulted in heavy criticism from investors over the payout when he headed to the departure gate early last year. So yesterday, the Qantas board referenced those scandals as the reason for the reduced payout - including a High Court ruling that the airline fired its ground staff illegally in 2020 and the $120 million settlement with the ACCC over so-called ‘ghost flights’. Qantas’s chairman-elect John Mullen said the salary review is part of the board’s work “to rebuild the trust of all stakeholders”.

The people’s pic

A portrait of Marcia Langton - who you might know as an Indigenous rights leader/academic/one of the key advocates for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament - has won the 2024 Archibald Prize People’s Choice Award. The artist behind the hyper-realistic painting is Angus McDonald. He’s carved out a name for himself in the prestigious prize, having been a finalist 7 times and previously won the people’s choice category in 2020. He called the win “a special honour”, saying that “it’s a privilege to be able to share Marcia’s inspirational story with a wider audience through this painting”. Laura Jones won the top Archibald Prize for her portrait of author Tim Winton in June. And speaking of iconic artistry, there’s some monkey business going on in London, where the third Banksy mural in 3 days has appeared. He’s on a roll…

Friday Lites - 3 things we liked this week 

Track Star has become a favourite Insta account - every day host Jack Coyne plays double-or-nothing with regular people and musos/celebrities in a game to guess the name of a song’s artist. It’s a lot of fun and always a pleasing feed cleanser. 

Blake Lively has been on screens big and small for decades now, but the admittedly shy star reveals more of herself and her life (including with hubby Ryan Reynolds and their 4 kids) in this new Vogue cover story. And of course, it features family favourite Hugh Jackman… 

We’re going to make this recipe recommendation really simple - cheese quesadillas with guacamole. Whether you’re watching the Olympics or just in need a filling snack, we made these last weekend and will be coming back for more tomorrow. 

Wanna be in the Saturday Squiz?

🏊🏼‍♀️ The Paris Sprint

Each day of the Paris Olympics we’ll bring you the top stories from the action overnight and events to put on your radar for the coming day. 

Distance swimmer Moesha Johnson kicked off the Aussie medals on Day 13 with a silver in the women’s 10km marathon swim. The Tweed Heads local led for most of the race in the grotty Seine but she was overtaken in the last few metres by Dutch star/training partner Sharon van Rouwendaal, the Tokyo silver medallist.

On the track, running champion Jess Hull is through to the final of the 1,500m, after finishing 2nd in her semi - she’s rated a good chance for gold in the final on Sunday morning. But it wasn’t such a great night for 800m runner Peter Bol whose attempt to better his fourth place in Tokyo didn’t see him make it past the repechage.

And the Stingers - aka our women’s water polo squad - are into their first Olympic final since winning gold in Sydney after a huge win over defending champions the USA 14-13 in a thrilling penalty shootout. They’ll play Spain in the gold medal match tomorrow night. Wanna know why they’re called the Stingers? Here’s a handy list of the Aussie Olympic teams and their names…

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Squiz the Day

Friday
8.30am (AEST) - Women in Media National Conference 2024 - Sydney 

ABS Data Release - Monthly Business Turnover Indicator, June

Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair (on until 11 August)

2024 Byron Writers Festival

Singapore's National Day

International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples 

Book Lovers Day

Birthdays for Rod Laver (1938), Gillian Anderson (1968), Eric Bana (1968), and Anna Kendrick (1985)

Anniversary of:

• the opening of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican (1483)

• the US dropping a 2nd atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan (1945)

• the resignation of US President Richard Nixon (1974)

Saturday
2.55pm (AEST) - Men’s Rugby: Wallabies v Springboks - Brisbane, and watch on Stan Sport

National Science Week (on until 18 August)

Ekka begins - Brisbane (until 18 August)

City2Surf in Sydney

International Vlogging Day

International Update Your Bio Day 

Birthdays for Antonio Banderas (1960), Hunger Games author Suzanne Collins (1962), and Kylie Jenner (1997)

Anniversary of:

• the Louvre Palace officially opening in Paris as The Museum Central des Arts (1793)

• Ruth Bader Ginsburg being sworn in as a US Supreme Court Justice (1993)

Sunday
Independence Day in Chad

National Presidential Joke Day in the US 

Birthdays for Steve Wozniak (1950), Hulk Hogan (1953), Joe Rogan (1967), and Chris Hemsworth (1983)

Anniversary of:

• Enid Blyton's birthday (1897)

• the formation of Al-Qaeda (1988)

• the founding of Airbnb by Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia and Nathan Blecharczyk (2008)

• the death of Robin Williams (2014)